Brazen Mail Truck Thief Takes Police on Wild Chase

A man in Utah, apparently undergoing. some sort of crisis while high on drugs, made the decision to target a rather. unconventional vehicle in a carjacking. >> Have you spoke to anybody from the. postal office about that truck? >> That's right. When a mail carrier was. out of his truck, Wilbur Hernandez ran. up and stole it. >> SIR, this is THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. GET. OUT OF THE vehicle now with your empty. hands. A short chase eventually led to a. longer standoff and the [music].

suspect's case went all the way to. federal court, but the sentence he. received over the summer as part of a. plea deal might surprise you. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. I got to say this. [music] If you think. the crime stories that we cover here are. scary, wait until you hear what's. happening with your personal data. online. Your name, phone number, address, it's all out there. It's easy. for anybody to find. But our sponsor. incogn, they help you disappear online. They track down where your personal. information is being exposed like on.

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February 5th, 2024, as stated by federal. prosecutors in Utah, a man named Wilbur. Castellanos Hernandez quote was acting. weird. The now 33-year-old was spotted. in an apartment complex in Salt Lake. City, apparently checking door handles. and trying to break into cars. And when. witnesses tried to chase him away, he. headed for one of the closest getaway. vehicles he could find, a US Postal. Service mail truck. And what ensued was. a search across multiple local.

jurisdictions with a mail truck. sometimes hitting other cars as. Hernandez careened around neighborhoods. Eventually, the chase ended with. multiple officers taking Hernandez down. in an area called Bountiful. Now, it did. take a minute to sort out where. Hernandez would be held, where he would. be charged, but it was the US. government, the federal government, who. won the jurisdiction over the case. because USPS is a government agency. And. now that Hernandez's federal case has. just wrapped up, Hernandez has been. sentenced to time behind bars followed. by deportation. We have got our hands on.

his indictment, as well as police. reports and bodywn camera footage from. Utah authorities. and they give us. insight into what officers were dealing. with that day, as well as why Hernandez. himself says he took off in a government. vehicle. So, we want to go back to. February 2024 to an apartment complex in. North Redwood Road in Salt Lake City. Police get a call about a suspicious. person in the parking lot and he was. armed. A still image from a witness's. cell phone video shows Hernandez holding. a knife. According to a police report,

when officers arrived, they found a. postal delivery man identified only as. RW, but there was no mail truck. Quote, he stated that he was placing mail in. the community mailbox at 594 North. Redwood Road when he saw a bunch of. people chasing a man. He thought it. looked weird, but said that area is. notorious for random things happening, so he continued to place mail in the. boxes. He then noticed the male who was. running run around the mail truck and. jumped in. He started yelling, "No, no, no. get out of there. But the male kept.

looking for the keys to start the. vehicle. And here's what Hernandez's. federal indictment says. RW said he ran. over to the mail truck and yelled at the. suspect to get out of the vehicle. RW. said that the suspect was holding a. knife and pointed the knife at him, threatening him and the other people. there with it. RW said one of the. witnesses used a piece of wood to try. and hit the suspect to stop him, but the. suspect was able to start the truck. using the keys that had been left in the. vehicle, and the suspect fled the area. in the vehicle. The mail truck contained.

mail matter, including letters, packages, and mail address to other. people while driving through different. Davis County jurisdictions. The mail. truck was being reported to local police. agencies as being driven recklessly and. being involved in minor traffic. accidents with other vehicles. And. according to the indictment, Hernandez. eventually admitted he was the one. driving that truck, even apparently. throwing people's mail out along the. way. But USPS, they were able to use a. GPS system in the truck to track him. down. Police caught up with Hernandez on.

this road in Bountiful. Take a look. Get out of the car. >> Get out of the car. Get out of the car. right now. Get out of the car. Get out. of the car right now. >> He's trying to get away. We got him on. on a gun uh 1327.

>> So, after crashing the mail truck into a. police cruiser, Hernandez heads into a. lot that appears to be under. construction, flying right past confused. workers. The officer follows Hernandez. around the lot, even trying to cut him. off at one point. But the bad news for. Hernandez is there's only one way in and. one way out. He gets boxed in back at. the road. But now he's seemingly.

refusing to come out. He allegedly. gestured with a knife and the officers. hit him with a taser. Now he retreated. inside the truck. >> Sir, this is THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. GET. OUT OF THE vehicle now WITH YOUR EMPTY. HANDS. >> Does anybody speak Spanish? Does anybody speak Spanish? >> Hey, back up.

>> Sir, THIS IS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. Exit. the vehicle WITH YOUR HANDS EMPTY. SHOW. US YOUR EMPTY HANDS. Is there anybody that can get a pepper. ball? >> I think a pepper ball just might get him. to come out. >> THIS IS THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. STOP. THROWING STUFF out of the vehicle. SHOW.

US YOUR EMPTY HAND and exit the vehicle. >> We got the knife out. Bountiful Victor 16. And the knife he. did have on his person. We did get off. of him. >> Gordon got that off of him. >> There's still a knife right there on the. ground. >> We didn't pick it up. We just kicked it. away.

>> So that's THAT KNIFE. >> POLICE DEPARTMENT. EXIT THE VEHICLE WITH. YOUR HANDS EMPTY AND ABOVE YOUR HEAD. >> More officers start to arrive at the. scene bringing non-lethal weapons like. pepper bombs and beanag guns. and they. call out to Hernandez in English and. Spanish asking for him to come out with. his hands up. Per KSL TV's reporting, police fired about 14 beanag rounds, 40. rounds of pepper spray projectiles, and. used their tasers at least four times. Eventually, he dropped the knife and he.

surrendered. Now, officers, they swarmed. Hernandez. They made sure he was no. longer armed and dangerous before a more. thorough search at a squad car. Okay. >> You good with it?

>> On their way. those off. >> You think I'm late? >> Oh, they're.

probably. ask question. to step out.

Yep. Let me put them in my cup first. Okay.

So over the phone, one of the responding. officers relayed why paramedics were. checking Hernandez over. >> No, no, dog. He was hit a bunch by. pepper wall, so he smells it, but he was. wearing two of the coats. He took two. coats out of the uh male uh back seat, and he was wearing those as kind of semi. body armor. and he would later be taken.

to the hospital to have a fractured arm. and finger checked out. This is. according to a Salt Lake Police report. But he wasn't the only one hurt during. this escapade per KSL TV. Hernandez. apparently bit one of the officers. during the struggle to the ground. Investigators photographed the knife on. the ground. They took it into evidence. and at first investigators had a hard. time identifying Hernandez, who the. government says was in the country. illegally. According to the police. report, the subject had provided. multiple iterations of a name and date.

of birth, but none of the combinations. were returning as valid in police. records. Once I arrived at the PSB, an. FBI liaison was able to identify the. subject with a mobile fingerprint. scanner. The FBI also provided Salt Lake. investigators with translation services. once Hernandez was in that interrogation. room. >> All right, Wilbur. So, uh, Agent Thornton here is going to. translate for us so that we make sure we.

understand each other. Okay. >> [clears throat]. >> post. >> So yeah, I'm Detective Kohl's with Salt. Lake City Police.

>> And this is uh Inspector Moore with the. US Postal Service. >> Inspect Moore. >> And then our translator here is with the. FBI, Mr. Thornon. Agent Thornon. Okay. So, we obviously want to talk to you. about what brought us all here today. >> Okay. >> I was walking.

>> And the report lays out what Hernandez. apparently told investigators. And I'll. tell you right now, it's bizarre. Quote, Hernandez said he had been in the area. of 400 North leaving his girlfriend's. house when he was walking around and. found what he described as a jar of. diamonds on the street. Hernandez said. all of a sudden a group of about 10. people started chasing him for no. apparent reason. Hernandez said he ran. into a mail truck, which he jumped into. Hernandez said he recognized the vehicle.

as a mail truck because it was white. with mail logos on it and it had mail. and packages in it. Hernandez said he. was getting assaulted by the group of. people now and he pulled out an object. that looked like a knife, but he said it. wasn't a knife, which he used to defend. himself. Eventually, later in the. interview, Hernandez admitted that he. had a knife in his jacket pocket, which. he pulled out and used. So, Hernandez. faced two federal counts here, carjacking and mail theft. And according. to court records, his trial was pushed. back several times as attorneys reviewed. all the information. But then in June of.

2025, Utah's second district court. announced a plea had been struck. One of. Hernandez's public defenders submitted a. filing ahead of sentencing that read, quote, Wilbur Castellanos Hernandez. through council asked the court to. impose the agreed upon sentence 30. months. While this is a substantial. difference from the range suggested by. the sentencing guidelines, then usual. facts of this case justify the. difference. By his own admission, he was.

under the influence of some drug, likely. bath salts. Mr. Hernandez is guilty of. the carjacking offense, but this simply. wasn't a conventional carjacking. He did. take the mail truck for personal gain. By all appearances, he was just trying. to flee an attack. Of course, his. actions were not privileged. There's no. justification or necessity defense, especially given what followed. But that. separates this case from those. run-of-the-mill carjackings. And as part. of the plea, the male theft count was. dropped. Hernandez was convicted of.

carjacking. He was sentenced to 30. months in federal prison. And according. to that sentencing filing, Mr. Hernandez, a citizen of Mexico, will. return home when his sentence ends and. he is deported. And that's all we have. for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining. us. And as always, [music] please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your. podcast. [music] You can follow me on X. or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.

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